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L'Amour Provencal
L'Amour Provencal is the third short story which appeared in the anthology , published in May 1950. The story takes place at an R.A.F. station which hosted a Free French Air Force Hurricane squadron some time during World War 2. In the anthology, this story is preceded by Wine with a Lady and followed by Mothers in Arms. Synopsis An R.A.F. Group Captain notices that the narrator is interested in a pretty French girl at the sergeant's mess which is hosting a party for the Free French squadron. He hastens to warn the narrator off. Her husband is also present, not just a skilled French pilot, but also handy with a stiletto. The group captain goes on to tell the story of how the pilot had come to meet his wife. Plot (may contain spoilers - click on expand to read) The unnamed narrator visits the sergeants' mess at an R.A.F. station where a Free French squadron is throwing a party. He notices a pretty French girl there but a Group Captain who is also there warns the narrator off because her husband is also there. He is that young man strumming the guitar and singing. He doesn't seem to have much in the way of "de-icing equipment" the narrator says. But the Group Captain assures him that looks are deceptive. This singer not just a skilled pilot but handy with a stiletto. His name was Jean Tavan and he was a Provençal, His father was a singer and a poet. His mother was a beauty queen of Valencia, a Spanish dancer and singer. Like others of her community, she was trained and was handy with a stiletto. When Jean was ten, his mother gave him a stiletto that had been in her family for generations. For a while, the Tavans led a nomadic existence as wandering players in the south of France but when they were in Eze, the father was killed by a car driven by a tourist. The mother committed suicide thereafter. Jean took to singing for his keep in the town and soon became known as the Troubadour of Eze. At Eze, he met and fell in love with a waitress at the Hotel du Golf named Marie Bonnet. However, one day, he got news from a waiter Emile Boulon that she had left with a German named von Blume. Jean got news that Marie had been seen in the chateaux country of the Loire so he made his way there, singing outside hotels hoping that Marie would hear him. He continued doing this even when the war broke out and Germany invaded France. One night, a German soldier struck him and stepped on his guitar. Enraged, Jean stabbed the German with his stiletto. Pursued by the Germans, he made his way to Normany, stole a dinghy and rowed across to England where he signed up and was trained as a pilot. Soon he Emile Boulon again and he told him he had seen Marie at the Hotel de la Poste in Chateaudun. Not bothering about regulations, Jean flew over the hotel at Chateaudun over three nights, dropping messages saying that if Marie wanted to escape, please signal to him. One night he received the answering flashes of light. He then dropped his final instructions that. He could not predict the time, but if she heard him singing outside the hotel, she was to run out and join him. On a suitable night he flew to Chateaudun again. He crashed his aircraft on landing but undeterred, he reached the hotel and started playing his guitar and singing. A girl ran out pursued by a German officer. Jean wasted no time stabbing the German and then Jean and the girl made their escape in the German officer's staff car. The car ran out of fuel near Florac. Jean asked the girl to go and shelter in the cottage of one of his relatives. He then continued to Marseilles where he hope to change some English money for Francs which he would need to escape to Spain. At the bank in Marseilles, the manager guessed who he was and showed him a newspaper article announcing that General von Blume had been murdered at Chateaudun. The article named him as the killer and stated that it was Marie Bonnet who had supplied his name to the police. Jean cannot believe it, but, as the bank manager pointed out, how else would the police know his name? Jean made his way back to Florac and on the road met a girl waiting for him. She seemed to know his name. He was about to kill her as a spy when she explained. She was Marie Courland, Marie Bonnet's chambermaid. Marie Bonnet was not French but a German spy from Alsace. When she picked up Jean's letters, she had shown them to von Blume and they hoped to lay a trap for him. Marie Courland had overheard this and when Jean arrived, she had run out to warn him. After von Blume had been killed, she escaped with Jean, knowing that Chateaudun had become too dangerous for her. Jean believes her story and they escape together, and succeeded in reaching England through Spain. Jean was treated leniently for the loss of the aircraft because he had brought back papers from von Blume's coat which proved to be valuable intelligence. In any case he wouldn't have minded as he had returned with a wife. Characters *Unnamed R.A.F. Group Captain *Unnamed narrator *Jean Tavan *Marie Bonnet *Emile Boulon *Marie Courlande *General von Blume Aircraft *Hawker Hurricane - text says twelve guns? *Unspecified Messerschmitts Ships Places Visited *Eze *Florac *Chateaudun Research Notes *The Hotel du Golf at Eze also appears in Biggles Works It Out. Algy stayed there for a time. Publication History References Category:Short stories Category:Other short stories Category:Adult short stories